


Special

by Inell



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-03
Updated: 2006-12-03
Packaged: 2018-10-26 06:14:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10781232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inell/pseuds/Inell
Summary: Eric watches people come and go from his desk in the Atrium.





	Special

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).

  
Author's notes: **Day 3** [](http://community.livejournal.com/31_october_days/profile)[**31_october_days**](http://community.livejournal.com/31_october_days/)  


* * *

They all think they’re so special, walking around like they own the place. Eric sits at his desk and watches them come and go with their fancy regulation robes and smug attitudes. Just because they’re Aurors, they think they’re special and invincible. It’s like a disease, really. They start off wide-eyed and hard-working, polite and friendly to everyone because they want to make a good impression, but then it strikes and eats away at them until they become arrogant and careless. He knows how it works from experience, after all.

He’s been at this desk for nearly twenty years now, and he’s lost count of how many security clearances are removed because they get too cocky for their own good and end up dead or permanently residing at St. Mungos. A limited few manage to avoid becoming infected by the superiority syndrome, and those he can overlook as an exception to the general rule. The others, though, are just waiting to fall. If they’re blessed, they’ll survive their failure with their mind still intact, but it will be the proof of their weaknesses that drives them slowly mad and makes them bitter, twisted shells of their former glory.

Eric watches Shacklebolt prance through the Atrium and scowls. It won’t be long, he thinks, before the shoulders slump and smirk becomes a sneer as self-disgust consumes the proud. Too conceited to see his shortcomings and be prepared to defend against his faults. He’ll be on an assignment soon, Eric knows, confident that he has everything under control and then it will happen in the blink of the eye. It will all be gone, and he’ll realize that he’s not so bloody special after all.

When it finally happens, if Shacklebolt is lucky, maybe there will be an opening for a Watchwizard. Eric looks away from the current favored Auror and checks the wand of a visiting French dignitary. It’s not the daring job that once had him considered the favored of the department, but it’s all he has left. He knows that peacock-blue robes aren’t as fancy as his old Auror robes. However, they can still be worn with pride.

End


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